Robust, Flexible Technology

While
wireless networking has been around for years, it was the formal ratification
of the 802.11n standard that made enterprise users take notice. The new
standard supported technology that was both robust and flexible. In addition,
it allowed true portability, which in turn meant that enterprise-grade portable
devices became feasible. Meanwhile, the continuing growth of 3G and 4G wireless
meant that the enterprise-grade connection could exist outside the office.
"The
fundamental objective is to make sure that people in the field have access to
the same information and capability that people in the office do," said Craig
Mathias, principal analyst at the Farpoint Group advisory service. "There used
to be a saying that people in the field don't want the same things as people in
the office, but that's not true. This is the first time we've been able to
replicate office IT functions and put them in the field."

Unfortunately,
some wireless carriers are complicating the adoption of enterprise wireless
networking. AT&T, for example, has stopped offering unlimited data plans
due to the demand for bandwidth by the Apple iPad and iPhone.

Mathias
said that this is a real problem for corporate users. "Users have no idea how
to manage data volume," Mathias said. "It's unfair to charge people for the volume
of data because people don't know how much data they're going to get."
He added
that the ultimate direction for enterprise wireless is WiFi-and 4G when it
becomes widely available. "There's no substitute for capacity and coverage,"
Mathias pointed out. "It will involve WiFi playing a strategic role in high-density
environments.
"Eventually,
it will be an all-IP network. When we move to LTE [Long Term Evolution], and WiMax, we have the potential to move all
traffic into the IP domain. The carrier will be able to divide up that traffic
dynamically."

This type
of flexible coverage was the rationale for the development of Cisco's Cius
tablet, which is capable of handling true enterprise applications. According to
Barry O'Sullivan, Cisco's senior vice president for the Voice Technology Group,
the Cius is a video-centric device designed for 11n and 3G environments. "The
primary users will be businesspeople who are mobile, inside buildings or
between buildings," he said.
O'Sullivan
said Cisco has designed the Cius to support 4G LTE when it becomes available.
He said that he thinks the device will be particularly useful for financial
services and public sector applications, adding that there's a rugged case
accessory for warehouse and factory environments.
"The name
of the game is that all businesses have access to the same information," said
Farpoint's Mathias. "When everybody has access to the same stuff, the only
differentiator will be how quickly you can move stuff around to people who make
decisions, and how quickly you can make those decisions known. How much is it
worth to get a temporal advantage over your competition?"
The answer
is that it could be worth quite a lot. Mathias describes a mythical insurance
agent to illustrate how a well-designed enterprise wireless approach can make a
difference. "You're an insurance agent sitting in your client's office, and
your client wants to make changes," Mathias said, describing the first scenario.
"You take notes, and offer to send the numbers over.
"Now you're
a modern insurance agent, and you're interacting with an application that
figures the numbers on the fly. Who's going to get the business? Nothing
irritates customers more than having to wait for an answer."
Ultimately,
that's the promise of enterprise wireless: not having to make your business
wait for something to happen, whether it's for a new insurance quote, or for a
pick list to be delivered to a forklift driver, or for the warehouse crew to
show up at the loading dock. In business, time is everything, and gaining that
temporal advantage is the reason the enterprise is starting to love wireless.

Wayne Rash is a Senior Analyst for eWEEK Labs and runs the magazineÃÃÃs Washington Bureau. Prior to joining eWEEK as a Senior Writer on wireless technology, he was a Senior Contributing Editor and previously a Senior Analyst in the InfoWorld Test Center. He was also a reviewer for Federal Computer Week and Information Security Magazine. Previously, he ran the reviews and events departments at CMP's InternetWeek.

He is a retired naval officer, a former principal at American Management Systems and a long-time columnist for Byte Magazine. He is a regular contributor to Plane & Pilot Magazine and The Washington Post.